Space

It’s Dead, Jim

The suborbital launch legislation seems to have finally given up the ghost, at least for this year. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, particularly given the fact that it almost passed a few weeks ago with a pill that would have poisoned the new suborbital passenger industry by overregulating it.

As Nathan Horsley points out in comments at Space Politics,

While a clear statutory basis for manned launch licensing is a desirable goal in that it would make it easier for new companies to tailor their designs to the regs, the existing companies should be able to go ahead under the current regime. The fact is that even under a new regulation, the licenses are still going to have to be tailored to each individual craft and mission plan (or at least series of similar mission plans). Further, the new push to include passenger safety as a factor in licensing is very dangerous. While the newest compromise limits this to situations where there has already been an accident, this is at best a marginal gain for the launchers in terms of insurance availability and litigation risk.

Bottom line, given that the FAA AST is doing a pretty good job under the current regime, sending the legislators back to the drawing board is not so bad a thing, and won’t even force launchers overseas.

Also, more from Alan Boyle here.

Philosophy

A New Blooksite

I just made up that word, for a site about a book that’s part blog (well, actually, the book (and theme) blog may not be up for another couple of days). But anyone who’s been paying attention to Glenn’s blogads will notice one for Jim Bennett’s new book on the Anglosphere, which he seems to have almost singlehandedly invented. I’m just pointing it out as well.

Hey, I’m just sayin’…

Technology and Society

Telehunting

I’m not sure just what the Texas officials’ problem is with this:

Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms.

A controversial Web site, http://www.live-shot.com, already offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs, site creator John Underwood said on Tuesday.

Texas officials are not quite sure what to make of Underwood’s Web site, but may tweak existing laws to make sure Internet hunting does not get out of hand.

Seems like a great idea to me. It would let you bag venison from the comfort of your own home, from anywhere in the world. It would be a good way to keep the deer from scenting you, and could reduce the overpopulation in many states.

It also sounds like just the ticket for John Kerry. He could crawl on his stomach in one of his own mansions, with his virtual shotgun, instead of having to go out in the cold and mud.

[Update on Thursday morning]

The deer aren’t going down quietly. It seems they’ve adapted the tactics of the Islamakazis, and are taking us with them.

[Update early Thursday afternoon]

For anyone who wants to give it a try (shooting over the internet, not crashing into deer), here’s the web site.

[Another update on Thursday night]

We’re under siege.

War Commentary

A “British” Hostage?

The latest snuff video release from Murderwood features Margaret Hassan being shot in the head. If it was her body found in Fallujah, then at least she died (relatively) painlessly, and wasn’t hacked up and disemboweled while alive.

But I was curious about the claim that she was a Briton. I thought she was born in Dublin?

[Update a few minutes later]

Guess I didn’t read carefully enough:

Born in Ireland, Hassan also held British and Iraqi citizenship.

I’m assuming that she emigrated to the UK and got citizenship there prior to going to Iraq.

War Commentary

A “British” Hostage?

The latest snuff video release from Murderwood features Margaret Hassan being shot in the head. If it was her body found in Fallujah, then at least she died (relatively) painlessly, and wasn’t hacked up and disemboweled while alive.

But I was curious about the claim that she was a Briton. I thought she was born in Dublin?

[Update a few minutes later]

Guess I didn’t read carefully enough:

Born in Ireland, Hassan also held British and Iraqi citizenship.

I’m assuming that she emigrated to the UK and got citizenship there prior to going to Iraq.

War Commentary

A “British” Hostage?

The latest snuff video release from Murderwood features Margaret Hassan being shot in the head. If it was her body found in Fallujah, then at least she died (relatively) painlessly, and wasn’t hacked up and disemboweled while alive.

But I was curious about the claim that she was a Briton. I thought she was born in Dublin?

[Update a few minutes later]

Guess I didn’t read carefully enough:

Born in Ireland, Hassan also held British and Iraqi citizenship.

I’m assuming that she emigrated to the UK and got citizenship there prior to going to Iraq.

Political Commentary

Two Hats?

It just occurs to me that Condi doesn’t necessarily have to give up her White House job when she takes over Foggy Bottom. Henry Kissinger was simultaneously National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for two years. I haven’t heard about potential replacements for her current position. I wonder if the White House is thinking what I’m thinking, or if they just haven’t gotten around to announcing her replacement yet.

War Commentary

The Continuing Iraq Quagmire

If you’re one of the Islamofascists, that is:

Allawi identified the group as Jaish Muhammad, Arabic for Muhammad’s Army. The group “has been arrested … We arrested their leader,” Allawi said, identifying him as Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, also known as Abu Ahmed.

Muhammad’s Army was known to have cooperated with Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida and Saddam loyalists and was responsible for killing and beheading a number of Iraqis, Arabs and foreigners in Iraq (news – web sites), Allawi said.

“They were planning to destroy Fallujah…by blowing up important positions,” he said. “They have extensions abroad that I cannot talk about now.” Allawi did not say how many members of the group were captured or what kidnappings the group has been involved in.

Apparently, when the US bombed some of the tunnels in Fallujah, there were secondary explosions for forty-five minutes. As someone commented over at Free Republic, “Teacher says every time there’s a secondary explosion in the tunnels, a dozen Islamonazis get their wings…”

Unfortunately, there was a grisly discovery as well:

On the streets of Fallujah, Marines recovered the disemboweled body of an unidentified Western woman wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket.

It is not known if the body was of Margaret Hassan, the 59-year-old director of CARE international who was one of two Western women abducted last month. Polish-born Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, another longtime resident of Iraq, has also been missing since last month.

They neglect to mention the other reports that her limbs were hacked off, and her face disfigured. No report on whether these atrocities occurred prior to or after her demise. This is what they’d love to be able to do to all of us who don’t share their vile world view. These are not people with whom we can, or should, negotiate. In fact, it’s getting more and more difficult to think of them as people at all.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!